Even Healthy Churches Need to Change

Along with many pastors in 1994, I watched with great curiosity as pastor and author Chuck Swindoll left First Evangelical Free Church of Fullerton, California, after 22 years to become a seminary president. Pastor Chuck’s books and broadcasts had provided “insight for living” for my life and “input for preaching” for my sermons. He was then, and remains today, one of my personal heroes and role models for effective, relevant teaching.

Six months later, over lunch with fellow pastors, the discussion turned to the search for his replacement. One pastor spoke for the group: “What idiot would follow Chuck Swindoll?” I shook my head in silent agreement: “Not me.” I wasn’t looking to make a move, especially to the role of sacrificial lamb!

Fast forward one year to Sunday morning, December 10, 1995. I sat anxiously holding the hand of my wife, Becky, on the front pew of the 5,000-member Fullerton church. I listened as Chuck Swindoll and my mentor, Dr. Howard Hendricks, challenged the church and me at my installation service. For a moment my mind flashed back to that lunch: “Now I know who the idiot is!” But God had clearly led, and when God leads, it is always best to follow. I had frequently taught my churches that you are safer out on a limb with God than you are seated comfortably under the tree without him.

Even our oldest and best ministries need honest assessment, fresh vision.

Welcome to the outer limb.

Blessed by a healthy church

This December I will celebrate my tenth anniversary as the senior pastor in Fullerton. To the surprise of many, I have survived. The church has grown, and we are joyfully tackling the challenges of being a church in the 21st century. Why has it gone so well? A main reason is that First Free Church was and continues to be today a healthy church.

We may not be the model for the emerging church, but we are healthy at the core. We have fresh, mission-driven vision that builds on our historic strengths while encouraging new Kingdom initiatives. We are tackling some of the facility obstacles that have limited our growth. We’re blessed with a great staff that is a healthy blend of the old and the new.

One third arrived during the Swindoll era, and they anchor us to the church’s core values, providing stability and credibility in the midst of change. Two thirds have come since my arrival, and they’ve provided a fresh perspective and an unbiased look at our strengths and weaknesses. All have a spirit that is forward-thinking, creative, and unified.

Our membership has grown, and we are once again planting churches. Our giving has never been better. We are focusing outward and making new inroads into the community.

Our challenge: a healthy church

The overall health of the church was my greatest joy as I began to lead. Yet I soon discovered that our health—the fact that we did so many things well—was also one of my greatest challenges. You see, healthy churches need change, too, but healthy churches often fail to feel the need for change.

After all, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” is conventional wisdom. Yet the fact is that our church, like every good church, needs to embrace innovation. The successes of the past and overall health had masked the fact that some changes were long overdue. The church had a crowd, but it was an aging crowd. Youth were quietly exiting after high school or college. Our worship service was done with excellence, but it wasn’t capturing the hearts of many.

In today’s culture, every church needs a change-friendly environment that welcomes innovation and creativity. Not everything needs to be dismantled or discarded. Yet even our oldest and best ministries, such as our adult discipleship, needed honest assessment, fresh vision, and creative thinking. For each ministry, we need to “break it down,” look it over, and then put it back together again … continually! Keep it flexible rather than fixed, always looking for ways to improve.

Over the last ten years, the Fullerton church has proven that it is amazingly flexible for a church that just turned 50! Yet I also discovered that changing a healthy church, especially a large healthy church with a history of excellence, does not come fast or easily. It can at times be harder to lead a healthy church through change than one that is sick or dying.

The overall health of the church can mask the more subtle symptoms that indicate a need for honest assessment and fresh direction. Just as a generally healthy person tends to ignore going to the doctor, a healthy church tends to not gather the hard truth by asking, “How are we really doing?”

Innovation should not be exercised in the emergency room of ministry but as a valued discipline of ongoing health maintenance. If a great church wants its future to be as exciting as its past, it must embrace change and its accompanying risks before it becomes unhealthy. Change must become a lifestyle.

Why healthy churches need change

Our world is constantly changing. Whether we like it or not, rapid change is a part of life in the 21st century. This is the world Jesus has called us to reach.

Howard Hendricks put me onto a fascinating book a few years ago entitled If It Ain’t Broke … Break It! The authors observed: “Not only is everything changing, but everything exists in relationship to something else that is changing.” If you don’t adjust to that, you will face extinction.

Our mission is yet to be accomplished. Jesus calls the church to go into all the world with the good news of grace. The parable of the lost sheep demonstrates just how serious he was about reaching every lost person. According to this story, even if 99 percent of the culture is being reached, we should do whatever it takes to go after the final one percent.

Our people are constantly changing. As Howard Hendricks put it: “God never called us to teach the Bible. He called us to teach people the Bible. So study your Bible, but before you teach it, make sure you also study your people.” Every generation and every culture demands change, especially today.

At this point, some are no doubt thinking that the church has already changed too much and that change is actually the problem, not the solution. Not all change is good change. In my book, Less Is More Leadership, I state: “The best change happens when you first decide what will never change.”

The majority of churches in America are plateaued or dying for one of two reasons: (1) because they change what they should never change, or (2) because they refuse to change what they are free to change. The message and the mission should never change, yet our methods must flex to remain effective.

Scripture gives us function but not forms. One reason the first-century church grew so rapidly across cultural lines was that Jesus did not give the disciples a formula for “doing church.” The mission and message and values of the Kingdom were crystal clear. The methods, the forms for “doing church,” were left vague for good reason. A global movement with staying power throughout the generations would have to adapt continuously. Therefore, the apostle Paul could declare, “I became all things to all men in order that I might win some.” Firm up what you will never give up, and then flex as God leads on everything else.

The purpose or mission statement of the Fullerton church was written in 1955 by the founding pastor, Wes Gustafson. Pastor Swindoll affirmed it, and so have I. It’s not flashy, but it is biblical and serves today to remind our members why we are in business:

Our mission is:
to be a worshiping community,
building mature disciples
and evangelizing the lost
to the glory of God.

Every major change we made was linked to moving us toward one or more of these three core purposes. If a church celebrates its methods, it becomes calcified and difficult to change. Celebrate mission over methods if you hope to build a culture of creativity that remains open to change.

Change is easier when you are healthy, not unhealthy. If change is prompted by a crisis or severe decline, the congregation is prone to be suspicious of leadership and the new direction proposed. After all, why trust the leaders who let things fall into such disrepair? Innovation almost always comes at a cost, so doing it while you are growing just makes sense. It is always best to pursue excellence while you’re on a roll.

Tom Landry, one of the greatest coaches in NFL history, was always hardest on his team after a big win. His observation was that the best time to grow and improve was while the team was on a winning streak. Most winners tended to become prideful, believing they had arrived, so he would be more critical after a win, looking for ways to fine-tune the plan or add a creative, new twist to their offense. The goal was to take their best performance and build on it, not maintain it. After a disappointing loss, the team’s energy was drawn to fixing obvious deficiencies and making sure the team did not lose heart.

Creativity should always flow from the children of the Creator. Change should be the norm in light of our spiritual DNA. After all, we are created in the image of God and born of his Spirit and indwelt with his presence. The very fact that the church tends to become fixed in its ways is evidence of our lack of intimacy with the Spirit of God who loves to provide both new wine and new wineskins.

Healthy churches led by healthy leaders will seek to develop a culture of creativity in which the people are free to innovate within the boundaries of clear vision and values.

Servant-leaders continually ask, “How can we better serve you?” Asking that one question and listening to the answers will unleash an avalanche of innovative thinking from an army of little creators made in God’s image.

The problem is we don’t ask and they don’t tell. The goal isn’t to please people, but it is to serve people and to always seek to serve them better this year than last. Humility says, “I always have room to grow.”

Every ministry has a natural life cycle and will eventually die unless it is reborn from within. Churches are born with a pioneer spirit, a lust for adventure, a faith willing to be stretched. They see a need for a new expression of the Body of Christ. They are fragile but flexible. They innovate like the pioneers of old, doing whatever it takes to reach their destination.

Eventually these pioneers settle down, build structures to serve the needs of the community, and begin to enjoy the fruit of their hard labor.

Innovation with a pioneer spirit can breathe new life into older churches. Church planting is one way of giving birth to a new generation of ministry, but what about the mother church? Is it condemned to die a slow death and surrender the future to the emerging church?

I don’t believe so.

At Fullerton we are seeking to reproduce ourselves by launching new church plants while simultaneously pioneering new communities of faith within our congregation.

One example is a new multi-ethnic worship service that was birthed two years ago in response to the demographic shift of our county. In 1955 our church was launched in a predominantly white area of Orange County. Our county is now 48 percent white and 52 percent other—Hispanic, Asian, and African-American.

This service is designed by an African-American worship leader and our Japanese-American college pastor. The goal of the service is to welcome the 52 percent and help them feel at home at our church.

Memories or Dreams?

Change is a part of life. At Fullerton we are learning to embrace it. We seek to honor our rich history without allowing the ghosts of the past to stifle creative ministry.

Howard Hendricks often said, “When your memories are more exciting than your dreams, you’ve begun to die.” Healthy churches must continue to find their greatest joy in their dreams, not in their memories. May those dreams call us to life-giving innovation!

Dale Burke is pastor of First Evangelical Free Church of Fullerton, California.

This article is adapted from Less Is More Leadership by H. Dale Burke (Harvest House, 2004).